What You're Fighting For
by Chasingtheimpossible
Summary: Sequel to Anything and Everything. Alex got out, but three years on, he's discovering that maybe, when he said he would never go back, he wasn't being completely honest. They say before you start a war, you better know what you're fighting for...
1. Prologue

_**Hey guys, this is the sequel to my story, Anything and Everything. If you're here, I'm assuming you've already read the original, but if you haven't, you probably should. Just sayin'… Anyway, thank you so much if you're one of the people who decided that they liked A&E and thought that they would give this a try. I'll try not to let you down :) Oh, and I do not own Alex Rider, or the song lyric by The Cab that I used in my summary.**_

He thought he was done. And he had been. For three glorious years, the closest thing Alex Rider had come to MI6 was watching James Bond films on the TV. He had finished school and, by some strange twist of fate, he had managed to get a place at university studying art. For the first time in his life, he had a steady relationship, and he was living what could easily be considered to be a normal life.

But of course, nothing lasts forever, especially the things that we like, and so, almost three years to the day from when he had escaped the place that he still affectionately thought of as hell, he found himself back in the lobby of the Royal & General Bank. The receptionist shot him a startled look, and politely inquired as to if she could help him.

"I'm here to see Ms Jones. I have an appointment." His voice came out in an almost monotone, but if you were to listen hard enough, you could surely detect the slightest undercurrent of fear. Fear of what, the receptionist didn't know, and it wasn't her job to ask, but it was there. Shrugging off the feeling that something was truly wrong, she gave him the appropriate instructions, forcing herself not to watch as he walked away.

Alex

The MI6 headquarters were the last place I ever expected to be. For all intents and purposes, I was done with them, and yet there I was, about to head into a meeting with my second least favourite person. The first being Alan Blunt, of course. In any other set of circumstances, I probably would have been coming up with a selection of witty quips referring to the return of the prodigal son to use to break the ice, but these were not any other set of circumstances. They were the circumstances I was trapped in, and to be perfectly honest, they sucked. A lot.

If Ms Jones was shocked by how much older I looked than the last time she saw me, she didn't show it. Actually, if she was feeling anything, she didn't show it. That in itself was enough to freak me out. Every time that Blunt was doing his impression of a glacier and icing me out, I could look at her and at least see a trace of emotion. But it seems that you can't be the head of MI6 without having a kick-ass poker face, and so I wasn't really getting anything from her this time around.

"Alex. How are you?" She said, remaining completely impassive.

"Can we skip the whole pleasantry bit and get to the part where you tell me what you know?" I cocked an eyebrow at her.

"If you wish. Though you should know, if we help you, you're going to have to help us."

There it was, out in the open. The reason I had waited for so long before contacting them. I needed them, and they knew it just as well as I did. So the question was, how far was I willing to go? Was I willing to throw away the life that I had built for myself? For anyone else, no. But for Fiona, I would do anything.

"I know."

And with those two words, my descent back into hell began.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Hey kids! I am uploading this just after midnight on Saturday morning, so I can't say happy Friday like I was going to… but oh well! Saturday is cool too. The response on the last chapter was amazing! Seriously, you guys are the best :) I got several reviews, so thanks to all of those people, and there were wayyy more story alerts than I expected! It was such a good feeling realising that you guys like the story so far. Keep the love going, and review, please! This is almost a bit of a filler, but it's useful for setting the stage. Without further ado, here is your chapter! **_

Alex

She raised an eyebrow and sat back in her chair, lacing her fingers together and giving me an inscrutable look.

"Alright. I'm assuming that seeing as you contacted us, you are aware that your girlfriend is missing."

The harsh reality of the words made my response get caught in my throat. I knew, of course I did. We were living together, so it was fairly obvious. But there's a difference between knowing something and having someone say it out loud. Ms Jones putting words to it just made it seem real in a way that I had managed to convince myself it wasn't.

Coughing to try and dislodge the words that I couldn't say, I nodded.

"And I am assuming that the police have no leads, and you got desperate. Correct?"

"Correct. Now it's my time to make a few assumptions. First, you know what happened to her. Second, you knew that I would come to you, asking for help."

For once, the mask that was Ms Jones' face slipped slightly, and I saw a glimpse of true, human emotion underneath. She looked uncomfortable, but then she was back to looking blank. "Yes, that is correct on both counts."

"Well… looks like the whole saying about apples and trees is true for employees of MI6 as well. It's almost like the old days again." I flashed her a trademark cynical smirk, but I was slightly out of practice (funny what happiness does to you), and I think it looked more like a grimace.

"If it is any consolation, I did not plan this. I merely saw it as a chance to get some much-needed help."

"What could you possibly need my help for?" This conversation was getting further and further away from topics that I was comfortable discussing.

"Alright, let's slow this down slightly. The first thing you need to know is the whereabouts of Fiona Friend. She was taken against her will from your flat just over a week ago. The people responsible for this are currently unknown to you, but I'm afraid you're almost too familiar with the name that they have united under."

Of course I was… "Scorpia." Somehow, it just kept coming back to them.

"Yes. A new generation of criminals have picked up where the old left off, and it seems that there are a lot of people out there who still want revenge for the downfall of the organisation. As we know, you were largely responsible for that, and it seems that they have also realised this."

Standing up, I began to pace around the room, running a hand through my hair in frustration. "And so of course, they go after her." I knew this would happen as soon as I got emotionally involved with her. Crap, that made me sound like such a girl… 'emotionally involved'. But it's true. That's what I was. And clearly, Scorpia had realised that they could use her to get to me.

Three years ago, that would have made perfect sense. I was hard to get to. I had people checking up on me, and it would have been a hell of a job to kidnap me. But these days, I was on minimal security, and it wouldn't be too hard. So why did they go after her instead?

Thinking about it, I turned back to Ms Jones. "But why didn't they come after me? As in, properly after me."

"We aren't sure."

"For God's sake… Do you have _any _useful information? What are you doing to get her back?" I said, collapsing back into the chair.

She frowned. "We knew that it was Scorpia. That's useful."

"In a useless kind of way… Answer the second question anyway. The first was sort of rhetorical."

"Well currently, we aren't really doing anything. There's an agent low in the ranks of the organisation, but there's no way we'll be able to get her out."

Looking back, I can clearly pinpoint that as the moment when I lost it.

"What the hell do you mean you 'aren't really doing anything'?" I sprang to my feet. "An innocent girl has been taken and you have the nerve to admit that you aren't doing anything?"

She at least had the decency to look afraid of me. "Alex, please, calm down. This is why we need your help."

"So basically, you want me to 'help' you, in return for information which you have yet to give me?" I saw her starting to protest, and I shot her a look. "Telling me that Scorpia took her doesn't count. An idiot could have worked that out eventually."

"The deal that we wish to offer you is that you will have full access to any equipment and assistance that you may require if you come back and help us on this mission. That's it. One mission, then you get your friend back and you can leave. We have nothing to hold over you, and you know it."

I sighed, knowing that she knew what my answer would be even before I did. "Fine. One mission, then Fiona and I are to be left alone."

"It's a deal then." Reluctantly, I reached out and took the proffered hand, shaking it as if it were some kind of bomb.

About an hour later, I found myself in a meeting room with a selection of MI6's finest, discussing the best way in which to approach our problem.

"The problem isn't that we can't get her out, it's that we don't know where she is. We had a tip-off that Scorpia was responsible from our undercover agent, but he isn't high level enough to merit that knowledge." Roger Greenway, apparently the head of the 'largest net of undercover agents that the world has ever seen', was currently lecturing us on the difficulties of the position we were in.

"Okay, so what do we do?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well, we intend to plant more spies, trying to glean any information that we can, and we are going to make tentative links with the CIA and other organisations to attempt to gain any knowledge that they have on Scorpia." He nodded, looking satisfied with his answer. "If they have anything that they want in return for your friend-"

"Fiona." His repeated insistence on not using Fiona's name bothered me, and I interrupted him with gritted teeth.

"Yes, her. If Scorpia want anything in return for her safety, a week is around the average time to wait for a ransom note, so we will be keeping an eye out for that as well."

"Then what do I do?"

"For now, why don't you start thinking back through any suspicious individuals you've seen in the past few weeks? Maybe you've noticed the same car in a lot of the places that you've been to, stuff like that. And I think there's someone downstairs who would enjoy the chance to have a chat with you for a few hours while we get more background knowledge."

No POV

_It was dark. So, so, so dark. And just in case the darkness wasn't enough to blind her, they had placed a blindfold over her eyes as well. She didn't know how long she had been tied up for. Long enough to require several visits by someone bringing her food, at least. All she knew now was the darkness. It was beginning to blend together with all of her memories, turning both the joy and the pain, the happiness and everything else into an endless streak of black, spread across her mind, slowly covering up all of the thoughts that popped into her mind, until only one remained. It repeated in her mind, taking over any parts that weren't enveloped in the darkness. He would come for her. Alex would come. _


End file.
